Shower bath



June 14, 1938. M. J. BELMONT SHOWER BATH Filed Aug. 21, 1956 I NVENT ATTORNEYS Patented June 14, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFKIE 8 Claims.

This invention relates to shower baths and more specifically to a shower bath using conditioned water.

In general, it is an object of the invention to provide adevi-ce of the character described, which will efficiently perform the purposes for which it is intended, which is simple and economical of construction, which can be expeditiously, conveniently and safely manipulated, and which can be readily manufactured and assembled.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shower bath assembly which permits the user to add one or more soluble salts or other materials to the water, separately or in any desired combination, and to provide such apparatus therefor that fresh supplies of salts maybe added, and may be added without danger of the systems overflowing while the fresh supplies are being added.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts, which will be exempliiied in the construction hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description, taken in 30 connection with the accompanying drawing which is a View in elevation and in section of a device embodying one form of the invention.

Large numbers of people enjoy using, in the bath, water to which certain medicinal, or pungent, or sweet-smelling, or other soluble salts have been added. The present invention contemplates apparatus which permits such use with a shower bath. It has been found that a bath of normal duration, and taken under a shower, requires less water than does a tub bath. There is, therefore, with the hereindescribed apparatus, a proportionate saving in the expensive salts which are used in the water.

In the drawing, I0 denotes a lead to a water supply and I2 denotes a lead to some other water supply. One may be for hot water and the other for cold. These deliver water to a mixing valve [4, from which a conduit 16 leads to spray or shower head means [8. A bypass valve 20 is located in conduit l6. From valve 20, passageways 22 and 24 lead to chambers 26 and 28, respectively. Passageways 30 and 32, from these chambers, respectively, lead back to an apportioning valve 34 in the main conduit Hi.

In general, the operation of the device is as follows: Valve 14 gives amixture of water of any desired temperature to conduit Hi. The bypass and apportioning valves 2|] and 34, respectively, in that conduit, may be 'set so that the water passes directly and only through that conduit to the spray head I8. Bypass valve may also be set so that a predetermined amount of water may be by-passed, in equal amounts, through chambers 26 and 28, from which it is brought back into the main conduit through passageways 3G and 32, respectively, at the opportioning valve 34. The latter also may be set so as to send all of the by-passed water, or any proportion thereof, through one of the chambers. If only a portion goes through one, the remainder goes through the other.

In each chamber are provided supporting means 36 and 38, respectively, and adapted to support any material which it is desired to have present in the water as it is dispensed from the head. it. In a preferred form, they are perforated, metallic. screen containers. Means are supplied for replenishing or for substituting other containers. To this end, they may be supported from heads 40 and Q2, screwed into openings 4 and 46 in the tops of the chambers. Various medications, or salts, or odoriferous materials which may be soluble in water are carried by the containers 36 and 38. One'container may hold common sodium chloride and the other may hold a salt which gives off a perfume.

The bypass valve 2% may be of various types, that shown being such that, as an opening is provided between conduit It and the chambers 26 and 28, the opening on the far side of the valve The water may then pass through the chambers and back into conduit l6 at the apportioning valve 34.

The apportioning valve 34 may be of any suitable type, the one shown in the drawing being so constructed that equal amounts of liquid may pass through each of the chambers into conduit It at the same time, or either chamber may be shut off, in whole or in part, while the other can still discharge into conduit to.

When a new or refilled container is to be inserted in its chamber, valve 14 is shut. In order that water may not flow back from that part of conduit l6 which is above the level of the chambers, an automatic valve t8 may be inserted at about the level of the top of the chamber, which will permit the flow of water to the spray head 18, but not in the opposite direction.

The valves are shown, for purposes of clarity, as large, compared to the remaining parts of the device. Separate valves may, if desired, be inserted in passageways 22, 24, 30 and 32 so that, among other reasons, the chambers themselves might be taken off and replaced by others. Under certain circumstances, the chambers may be of relatively small cross-section.

Since certain changes may be made in the above construction, and dififerent embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a shower bath, the combination comprising a source of water supply, spray means, means for conducting Water from said source to said spray means, means to bypass a predetermined amount of said water, removable means for supporting soluble material in said by-passed water, means for shutting off a part at least of said by-pass means from any other part of said shower bath which is higher than said part of said by-pass means, and means associated with said part of said by-pass means and permitting the removal of said removable means without substantially any loss of water from said by-pass means when said part is so shut ofi.

2. In a shower bath, the combination comprising a source of water supply, spray means, means for conducting water from said source to said spray means, means to bypass a predetermined amount of said water and having a chamber therein, means for supporting soluble material in said chamber, means for shutting off a part at least of said chamber from any other portion of said shower bath, which portion is higher than said chamber, and an opening in said chamber and permitting the removal of said supporting means without substantially any loss of water from said by-pass means when said part i is so shut off.

3. In a shower bath, the combination comprising a source of water supply, spray means, means for conducting water from said source to said spray means, means to bypass a predetermined amount of said water and having a chamber therein, removable, perforated means for containing soluble material in said chamber, means for shutting ofi the upper part at least of said chamber from any other part of said shower bath which is higher than said upper part, and an opening in the top of said chamber and in said upper part thereof and permitting the removal of said perforated means without substantially any loss of water from said by-pass means when said part is so shut off.

4. In a shower bath, the combination comprising a source of water supply, spray means, means for conducting water from said source to said spray means, means to bypass a predetermined amount of said water and having a plurality of chambers therein, means for supporting soluble material in said chambers and means for directing at least at certain times said water through both of said chambers simultaneously.

5. In a shower bath, the combination comprising a source of Water supply, spray means,

, means for conducting water from said source to said spray means, means to by-pass a predetermined amount of said water and having a plurality of chambers therein, means for supporting soluble material in said chambers, and means for passing water through one of said chambers at an increasing rate of flow and for simultaneously passing water through the other of said chambers at a difierent rate of flow.

6. In a shower bath, the combination comprising a source of water supply, spray means, means for conducting water from said source to said spray means, means to bypass a predetermined amount of said water and having a plurality of chambers therein, means for supporting soluble material in said chambers, valve means for con trolling the amount of water which is by-passed through each chamber and means for directing at least at certain times said water through both of said chambers simultaneously.

7. In a shower bath, the combination comprising a source of water supply, spray means, means for conducting water from said source to said spray means, means to bypass a predetermined amount of said water and having a plurality of chambers therein, means for supporting soluble material in said chambers, and valve means for controlling the amount of water which is bypassed through each chamber independently of any other chamber.

8. In a shower bath, the combination comprising a conduit adapted for supplying hot water, a conduit adapted for supplying cold water, valve means adapted for mixing, in predetermined proportions, the hot and cold water supplied by said conduits, spray means, a third conduit from said valve means to said spray means, means providing a plurality of chambers, means providing passageways from said third conduit to said chambers, single valve means adapted for diverting any desired proportion of the water flowing in said third conduit into said passageways, means providing other passageways from said chambers to said third conduit, single valve means adapted for increasing the flow in one of said other passageways and for equally decreasing the flow in the second of said other passageways, and means adapted for supporting soluble salts in said chambers.

MAX J. BELMONT. 

